Libraries shelved as school boards cut back

LIBRARY CUTS

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The Windsor-Essex Catholic District School Board has laid off all but four of its library technicians and is dismantling all its libraries. It has started to divvy up the library books in its elementary schools and distribute them to individual classrooms instead.

After years of cutbacks to staff and hours at school libraries, at least one board has now shelved them.

In a controversial decision — which even some students are protesting — the Windsor-Essex Catholic District School Board has laid off all but four of its library technicians and is dismantling all its libraries.

It has started to divvy up the library books in its elementary schools and distribute them to individual classrooms instead.

The move comes at a time when the number of Ontario elementary schools reporting proper staffing in their libraries has hit a low, says a report to be released Monday by research and advocacy group People for Education.

“We believe students’ physical well-being is important, so we have a gym. As a Catholic school, we believe religion is important, so we have a chapel. If we believe literacy and reading is important, why wouldn’t we have a library?” said Windsor-area parent Donna Tonus, who is banding together with others to fight the board’s decision. A student protest is also planned on Monday.

“The physical removal of it sends a powerful message” that could hurt students’ achievement, and affect their love of reading, added the mother of two.

People for Education found 56 per cent of Ontario elementary schools have a teacher-librarian, down from 80 per cent just over a decade ago.

“One of the things we know from looking at library hours, is in schools that have teacher-librarians, they are open longer — they’re open before, during and after school,” said Annie Kidder, executive director at People for Education.

Many studies have shown the benefits to schools with strong libraries, including higher standardized test scores and more students with positive attitudes toward reading.

Over the past couple of years, People for Education has heard more and more from schools where libraries aren’t staffed and are closed unless teachers take their classes there, have part-time staff, or have been shut down, said Kidder, adding that’s hard to understand given the province’s focus on improving test scores.

One Catholic school in Sudbury has resorted to taking students to the local public library two times a month since its own library closed.

Education Minister Leona Dombrowsky called the Windsor Catholic board’s decision “unusual” and said it should have first looked to curb administrative costs.

She noted the board has seen its funding increase by $61 million, or 34 per cent, since the Liberals took office, while enrolment has declined 17 per cent.

“Libraries are viewed, by and large, as very important tools,” she said. “As parents, we want to encourage our children to make use of resources, both human and books, in libraries.

“When I visit schools, children race to show me their libraries and all the great things that happen there. They’re not just places where you shelve books.”

Cathy Geml, associate director of the Windsor Catholic board, said it is facing a loss of $8 million to $10 million for the next school year, and more in years to come, because of declining enrolment.

It plans to keep four library technicians on staff — who are paid less than teacher-librarians, and not trained in Ontario’s curriculum — to work with schools.

She said the board has been researching the issue for some time. In fact, the board’s director of education, in an interview with a local newspaper, called the traditional library “nostalgic.”

“We need to work on teaching 21st century learning skills,” Geml said.

The province’s literacy and numeracy secretariat has recommended 1,000 to 1,500 books in every elementary classroom, and that too informed the board’s decision, she added.

“To do that is impossible,” she said, but with redistribution one school has 200 to 250 per classroom. It’s expected that classroom teachers will aid children in choosing books.

Geml also said schoolchildren spend time walking to the library, choosing books and returning to class. “That’s lost instructional time,” she added.

Library space will instead be used for music, arts or drama.

In high schools, the board is working on a plan to revamp libraries to make them more like university student centres, with access to computers and some reference materials, and instruction in online research.

The fact is teens don’t take books out anymore in the Windsor Catholic board, said Geml. In a few calls to schools, one reported just a single book signed out.

“They need computers and quiet space,” she added.

The Windsor board’s move prompted the Ontario School Library Association to call an emergency meeting a week ago. It, and the Ontario Association of Library Technicians, have each sent letters of concern.

Both groups are critical of the board for making such a change behind closed doors, with no public input.

“We hope this does not snowball to other school boards,” said Roger Nevin of the school library association.

Kidder said it’s time the provincial government gave a clear directive to boards that school libraries are important.

“To think of going to the library as a loss of instructional time?” Kidder said. “There’s something much richer and more important that goes on.”